Enma Ai
Enma Ai is the main protagonist, on & off anti-heroic and main antagonist of the horror anime Jigoku Shoujo, which is known as Jigoku Shoujo or Hell Girl. History Ai Enma was born in the early 1600's in the small Japanese town known as Mutsumi Village. The children of the village teased and bullied Ai because they believed she was an evil spirit. They claimed she had special powers and even said they had seen her bring a dead butterfly back to life. Ai says the butterfly just wasn't dead. Ai's cousin Sentarou was constantly sticking up for her, fighting with the village children. When Ai was seven she was chosen by the village elders to become the latest in a long line of child sacrifices meant to appease the mountain god and secure a bountiful harvest. The ritual was known as the "Seven Sending", every seven years a seven year old girl was offered up to the mountain. Ai's parents defied the will of the village elders and secretly arranged for Sentarou to keep Ai alive in the woods, bringing her food, clothes and keeping her company. It was then that Ai's long black locks grew. Although isolated and alone, Ai remembers this time as the happiest of her life, if she could have, she'd have had things stay that way forever. Before long the village's crops started to fail and wither when they expected a bountiful harvest, adding to this phenomena are heard rumours of Sentarou sneaking off into the woods alone at night. They followed him one night and found Ai. After a short pursuit they punished Ai by burying her alive, forcing Sentarou to shovel the first spadefuls of dirt onto his cousin's face. Seeing that the one person who supposedly cared for her the most betray her caused Ai great pain. She broke out of her grave later in the night carrying hatred towards the entire village. In revenge, she burned the entire village along with the villagers, except for Sentarou, because he was already leaving the village. He watched Ai burn the whole village and curiously laughed, possibly because he was happy that she was alive and because she had gained her revenge on the village. Ai and Senturo Ai Enma and Sentarou Shibata More than 400 years ago, the very young human Ai Enma lived in a remote village near the mountains. Other kids frequently bullied her for her strange personality, and the only friend she had was her cousin, Sentarou. At the age of seven, Ai was selected by the village leaders to be the sacrifice for the Seven Sendings, a rite where a seven year-old girl is sacrificed to the Mountain God so that the village can achieve a good harvest. This involves exposing her to the elements in the mountains. However, her parents secretly asked Sentarou to care for her as she lived in the mountains. Thanks to her parents and Sentarou, Ai managed to survive a number of years hiding in a waterfall known as Mutsumi Ridge. Only Sentarou would visit her to bring her food and changes of clothes. During six years, Ai and Sentarou's relationship developed and both of them became romantically attracted to one another, although neither admit it to the other. Ai will start to confess her feelings just prior to the tragic events that seal her fate. Meanwhile, the famine in the village persisted, and suspicions arise amongst the villagers as to why the Mountain God refused to grant successful harvests. One night, a group of boys suspiciously follow Sentarou into the mountains and discover Ai. She and her parents are captured, bound, and blindfolded. As punishment, all three of them will become the sacrifice to the Mountain God. After the priest sanctified Ai's parents, the villagers swiftly beat them with shovels and toss them into a grave. Ai, however, is to be buried alive. The villagers then force Sentarou to be the first one to shovel dirt into the hole to atone for his sins. While Sentarou caved in to their demands, Ai begged for his help She manages to shake off part of her blindfold enough to see with one eye. What she see, however, is Sentarou shoveling the dirt over her. His betrayal brought forth an immense hatred, and as the villagers finished burying her and her dead parents in a wild frenzy, she vowed to hate them forever even in death. A short time afterwards, Ai emerged from the grave as a vengeful entity. She gleefully exacted her revenge by burning the entire village and inhabitants save Sentarou to the ground. As explained in the first episode of the second season, her vengeance attracted the attention of the Master of Hell, who punishes her. He revealed that he holds the souls of her parents hostage and offered to make a pact with her: in exchange for her parents not being sent to Hell, Ai must act as the messenger of people's hatred and vengeance. In order to serve these tasks, the Master of Hell demanded that Ai forget her own hatred, numbing herself to the sufferings of others, and become a mere observer. If she did not accept this punishment, the souls of her parents would forever wander Hell. Having no other choice, Ai accepted the appointment as Hell Girl. Through the centuries, Ai traveled around Japan becoming the messenger of vengeance to those with a strong hatred in their hearts. It started when a client contacted with her. Ai explained her services to a client, who has someone they hate and will be the recipient of the vengeance. She will give them a straw doll with a red string tied to it's neck. If he or she wishes to take revenge, the client may pull the red string. However, Ai always warns her clients that a mark will appear on them and their souls will also go to Hell when they die. If the client pulls the string, Ai puts on her kimono and goes to work. She shows the recipients a series of illusions, usually relating to their sins, and then sends them away as she ends them away in a dialog. As she does this, patterns of her kimono appear to come forth. Ai will then ferry that person's soul to Hell. She teleports back and forth between the human world and an alternate dimension known as the Realm of Eternal Twilight, where a house exists as her base of operations. The house is inhabited by her and her grandmother Sometimes, the Master of Hell will check in on her in the guise of a spider. As time passes, so did the method of contacting Ai. The earliest known method was the Ema Tablets, a stone in which the recipient's name is written and then put in the chest. In the early 20th century, Ai used a blank newspaper ad to advertise her services. With the arrival of modern technology, Ai would use the most well-known method of contact in the series: the Hell Link, a website where the recipient's name can be written. Whatever the methods, they share a similarity in that they are only effective at midnight and will only work for those who have a strong hatred in them. However, this means that the recipient's actual guilt in the matter is not a factor so long as the client hates him/her, and has led to innocent also people being sent to Hell. While performing her duties, Ai recruited three beings as her companions. The first was Wanyuudou, the left wheel of a carriage that became a yokai. Ai encountered him when he tried to scare her. She convinced him to stop frightening people and he accompanied her as she met a client. After the mission, he decides to accompany her in her travels, becoming "her feet". The second companion is Ren Ichimoku, another yokai in the form of a katana. Ai meets him on the remains of a battlefield, stuck to the ground. He agrees to travel with her and Ai pulls him out of the ground. As she does this, Ren transforms into a human form. The third companion is Hone Onna, a former prostitute that was killed and dumped into a river. Ai met her as she unwillingly scared people in her skeleton form. Becoming her assistants, the three would act as investigators, monitoring a client's situation and investigating more about the client and/or the recipient if necessary.They hold great respect for their Mistress, and during their time together formed close relationships with each other and Ai, whom they care for deeply. 400 years have passed since Ai first became the Hell Girl. In that time, Ai has delivered the hatred of countless people. In doing so, she has succeeded in suppressing her own hatred and burying the painful memories of her past. Meanwhile, the Hell Link becomes a popular topic due to the quicker spread of information in the modern age, particularly amongst teenagers. One day, Ai encounters Tsugumi Shibata on a train crossing. After the encounter, she estabilishes a telepathic link with Tsugumi, although she herself does not know why this happened. Whatever the reason, the link between them draws the attention of Tsugumi's father, Hajime Shibata. The link allows Tsugumi to see through Ai's eyes and identify the next client and/or the recipient of hate. Both of them would try to stop the revenge from being taken. Ai and her companions notice this, although she appears indifferent towards them, perhaps knowing they can't stop the cycle of hatred. This changed however, when Ai received a client's request only to find it was a trap set by Gilles de L'Enfer. During their confrontation, he uses his powers on her and manages to give her a glimpse of her forgotten past. Ai manages to send Gilles to Hell as the client pulled the string, but when she returns to the Realm, she sees Sentarou in the distance, indicating her past was beginning to resurface. She pieces back her memories and uses her link with Tsugumi to relay a message to Hajime. As both of them travel to Mutsumi Ridge, she maintains contact with Tsugumi as she realizes both of them have a connection to her past. She finally finds out the connection: Hajime is a descendant of Sentarou. Unable to gain retribution from Sentarou she focuses on Hajime. As is revealed over a few episodes in the first season, Hajime neglected his wife by burying himself in work. When Tsugumi is born, Hajime works even harder thinking he must provide for his family. His neglected and lonely wife ultimately engages in an affair with a public figure that Hajime just so happens to be following. Hajime refuses to accept her apologies and entreaty to allow them to start again on a rainy night. When she leaves, her car crashes. This sets up an obvious parallel between Ai and Hajime's inability to forgive. The comparisons are not perfect: Hajime neglected his wife while as Ai protests to the Master of Hell she had done nothing to deserve her sacrifice. Nevertheless, Ai blames Hajiime and she attacks Hajime and Tsugumi at the ridge. Her companions arrive and try to stop her, warning her acting on her emotions will send her to Hell. Consumed by hatred, Ai ignores their warnings and manages to hit Hajime and Tsugumi with her dark energy projectiles. Even after her companions tried to convince her not to do something like this, Ai Enma then proceeded to try to send Hajime and Tsugumi to hell. However, before she could do that, she was sent to hell herself. Ai awakens on the boat on the way to Hell, piloted by the Master of Hell himself. The Master of Hell tells her because of her actions, she will be damned to Hell. Ai refuses, saying she cannot go yet. The Master of Hell tries to stop her by shooting webbing at her, but she breaks through them and escapes. Meanwhile, Tsugumi and Hajime are teleported back to the temple. Ai sends Hajime away to the Realm while she sends Tsugumi back to their apartment and tries to convince her to take revenge on her father. Ai shows her the truth about her mother's death and Hajime's involvement in it. Meanwhile, Hone and Ren explain their relationship with Ai. They further state that they sought to protect her from him rather than wished anything ill against Hajime. However, they further confess they lack any power to influence her. At that point, Ai's Grandmother calls out to Hajime from behind the door of her room. Ai's companions note that they have never heard her address anyone but Ai. Ai Grandmother asks Hajime for a favor in exchange for freeing him from the Realm. Exactly what he agrees to do is never revealed. Hajime, Hone, and Ren arrive at the apartment. Her companions try to talk Ai out of her hate, but she knocks them unconscious. In a final attempt to make Tsugumi pull the string, Ai both of them to the scene of Ayumi's death. Her attempt proved to be unsuccessful, because Hagime arrives to accept his responsibility in his wife's death. As he confesses, it was his refusal to forgive her for her betrayal largely caused by his own actions that led to her death. Tsugumi confesses she does not blame her father and refuses to take revenge. They return to the ridge where Ai reflects in her own memories. Tsugumi returns the Wanyūdō straw doll to her, saying she does not need it. Tsugumi states further that Sentarō loved her and regreted the actions he did back then, even building the temple as a sign of his remorse. The four of them (including Wanyūdō) teleport back to the temple. In a final release of her emotions, Ai destroys the Seven Child temple indicating she still has not really forgiven him, but she will no longer seek retribution from his descendants. Ai and her companions leave the temple, while Tsugumi and Hajime return home. As she had put aside her own hatred, Ai once again becomes worthy of the mantle of Hell Girl and continues to deliver souls to Hell. In the second season "Hell Girl Two Mirrors", Ai encountered Takuma Kurebayashi. He captured the attention of Ai because they both had a very similar fate. During episode 26, Ai showed empathy to Takuma because she knew that Takuma is innocent and had nothing to do with the accident related to his father. Ai decided not to bring Takuma in Hell. Suddenly, Kikuri was possessed by the Master of Hell and punished and made Ai a mortal for not fulfulling her task. Later on, Takuma saw Hotaru on the lake side. Because of that, he became angry and chose to take revenge for what he thought was Hotaru's death. He burned his own house down. Then, he was punished by the villagers for what he had done but Ai suddenly appeared and saved him. Unfortunately, when the villagers misunderstood that Ai has come back to send one of them to hell, out of fear they went to try to kill Ai. Takuma shouted to stop hitting Ai. He swiftly went near Ai and he held Ai's hand. Ai said to Takuma that "It's all over". Category:Demon Category:Deal Makers Category:Devils Category:Immortals Category:Immortal demons Category:Characters Category:Successful Villains Category:Characters with Supernatural Powers Category:Karma Houdini Category:Torturers Category:Anti Villains Category:Characters voiced and/or played by Mamiko Noto Category:Bigger Bads Category:Sorceress Category:Provoker Category:Master Manipulator Category:Possessors Category:Abuse Victims Category:Characters from the Hell Girl Universe